Trip Recap Part 1 - Arrival and visit to Jinja

In front of Burj Khalifa

Three weeks in Uganda went by so fast. Most of the team are now back in Toronto except for Noah, who is still doing an extended stay in Uganda followed by a trip to Singapore before coming home.

New years eve on the plane went by quietly. There were no special announcements, no complimentary champagne. Twelve hours later, we arrived in Dubai, our stopover point.

We had enough time in Dubai to see the city at night. Here is a team picture taken in front of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

Arriving in Entebbe

After a short rest at the hotel, we took off again for Entebbe the next morning. Finally we arrived in Entebbe, where we picked up Michael, the ninth member of our team.

Or rather, he picked us up in this rental van.  Michael is an old friend from Soroti, who is also a professional driver and mechanic by trade. We hired him to drive us around the country for the three weeks. His experience and skillfulness would save us many times during the trip.

Loading the van at Entebbe airport

After one night's rest in Kampala, we left the next day to make it to Jinja for a visit with the Deliverance Church pastors whom one of our teams worked with in 2010.  Unfortunately, our van overheated on the way and we were left stranded in Lugazi, a town about 30 km from Jinja, waiting for a replacement van from Kampala. 

Stranded in Lugazi

This put a little dent in our Jinja plans. We arrived five hours later than planned, leaving just enough time for a late night dinner meeting with the Deliverance church pastors and their spouses.

Dinner with Jinja pastors and their wives

Over dinner, we got to know each other, exchanged stories and testimonies, and found out a bit about the church's activities and projects in the Jinja area.  Adrian got a chance to share with Pastor Billy about our dream of being a resource to Uganda and show him our proposal. It was received so well that Pastor Billy insisted on showing us the church grounds the next day as a potential venue for where we might be able to offer training classes, should we require them.

DC Waluguba office and classroom space

DC Waluguba grounds

After getting a tour of the church building and grounds, we said our goodbyes, and then hit the road for Tororo.